AGENESIS OF THE GALLBLADDER IN ADULTS - A LAPAROSCOPIC DIAGNOSIS

Failure to find the gallbladder at the usual or most common atypical s ites during surgery for cholecystolithiasis is a rare but known proble m. Although ultrasonography has 95 % sensitivity for the diagnosis of cholelithiasis, occasionally a small contracted gallbladder with stone s and chronic cholecystitis will be difficult to visualize and can lea d to erroneous interpretation. We report on the case of a patient pres enting with abdominal colic and ultrasonographically confirmed cholecy stolithiasis. During laparoscopic cholecystectomy, the gallbladder cou ld not be detected, After laparoscopic staging followed by endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography and abdominal computed tomography, agenesis of the gallbladder was confirmed. This method can be conside red for diagnosis of gallbladder agenesis without the need for laparot omy and thorough exploration.